Gig Harbor man leads state chaplaincy program

Mike Neil and his fellow chaplains respond to all types of tragedies. They're all volunteers.

Raft Island resident Mike Neil works as a chaplain for both the Washington State Patrol and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. He is working to create a network of chaplains for every county in the state.

Ric Hallock | Gig Harbor Life

Mike Neil has the type of job that very few people can do.

Neil, a Raft Island resident, is the senior chaplain for the Washington State Patrol and the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

That means that whenever there is a tragedy involving WSP or DFW personnel, Neil is one of the first people to be called.

It may be a traffic accident. Or a shooting. Or even a rescue operation. Whenever the State Patrol or DFW is called to a scene where there's a need for a healing presence, Neil and his fellow state chaplains are there.

2012 has been a challenging year for Neil and his team: there were three "line-of-duty" deaths and many other scenes to which he and his team were called.

For Neil, it started on New Year's Day with the murder of U. S. Park Ranger Margaret Anderson at Mount Rainier National Park. "I was on the scene shortly after that tragedy occurred, working with the Critical Incident Team," Neil said.

He counseled Anderson's grieving family and also worked with the employees and other rangers helping them work through the loss of their friend and co-worker.

"It's an amazing scene when there's a crime like that and a manhunt — the police are everywhere and everyone is busy and focused on their jobs. They don't want you to be in their way, but they don't want you to leave either."

Less than two months after that tragedy, WSP had a tragedy of its own on Feb. 23. "I was one of the first people Chief John Batiste called when Trooper Tony Radulescu was shot while making a traffic stop near Port Orchard," Neil recalled. "He called me to the ER. I had to make the calls to Trooper Tony's son and fiancé that Tony had been killed.

"You really have to be ‘prayed up' when you have to handle that kind of task. And it wasn't just his family that was grieving. He knew so many people and he was the kind of guy who would light up a room when he entered. Everyone loved him."

That included Radelescu's co-workers, who also needed Neil's special attention.

On June 21, the longest day of the year, Neil was called to back to Mount Rainier when National Park Service Climbing Ranger Nick Hall fell to his death on Emmons Glacier trying to rescue four other climbers who had fallen into a crevasse.

"Nick was teaching people how to be safe, and he died trying to save someone else," Neil said.

"That event was especially difficult. Here's a small agency — the Park Service — with a small crew and they lost two of their own in just six months.

"Margaret was murdered by a crazy guy and we were all wondering ‘How can this happen in a place called Paradise?' That was close to the shortest day of the year.

"Then on the Summer Solstice — the longest day of the year — Nick died from a natural event. His family asked me to conduct the memorial service for him. It was difficult."

Tragedy struck again on Sept. 4, when Steve Quinnell, a DFW employee, collapsed at his desk in Olympia. "He was a skilled field biologist who know how to implement complicated and logistically challenging studies in Puget Sound," Neil said. "I counseled his family and then helped in a debriefing with his co-workers."

Helping the cops and wildlife personnel deal with mind-numbing tragedies is an important part of Neil's job.

He has recruited 12 other chaplains to join him in his mission. "We now have a dozen chaplains working throughout the state," Neil said.

They're all volunteers.

"We serve the public, but we're very devoted to the employees like the police officers who have to be on the scene. They have a mountain of procedures and regulations and laws to follow, and they have to take the brunt of the public sentiment.

"They have to handle the complaints, they get assaulted, sometimes they make mistakes. It's a very, very difficult profession.

‘You respond to a terrible accident scene on the highway or a crime scene and you have to go back to work the next day.

"There's a very high level of expectation and great pressure and you don't dare lose your edge. And you don't really have a safe place to talk about all this stuff. Your spouse doesn't want to hear about all the stuff you have to deal with — so that's where our chaplains come in," Neil said.

His goal is to have a chaplain for every county in the state. "Some of the larger counties, like King and Pierce will have two or three chaplains," he said.

All the current chaplains happen to be Christian, and Neil hopes to recruit chaplains from other faiths as well.

"We have a strong community in our chaplain's group, so we share our stories with each other. What sustains you is faith. Your faith and your life perspective sustain you," he said. "You know that God has a plan for every person. Even people who choose to reject Him. He's a loving, gracious and merciful God.

"Sometimes you can lose perspective when you're in the deepest bowels of grief and you ask the unanswerable question — ‘Why do we have to suffer?'

Neil has formed a non-profit corporation to fund his chaplaincy team. The organization is called The Washington State Troopers and Fish and Wildlife Police Care Foundation. "CARE stands for Confidential, Accountable, Reliable and Essential," he said. "Not only does it say that we care for our employees, but through the support of this chaplaincy is a way that we can reach out and care for the public in their tragic time of need."

Neil is hoping that the organization will soon be fully funded. "We'll do fundraisers and other events to keep solvent and sustainable. We'd like to even be able to pay an administrative assistant, and we want to purchase ballistic vests for our chaplains. None of us carry weapons even though we can still be in dangerous situations.

"It's a pretty scary world we live in right now and we're not immune to disaster."

For information or to make a contribution to the Care Foundation, visit mdneil.com.